At the concession stand, be sure to order some popcorn, a soft drink and a box of tissues. Napkins may not cut it.
Today the Milwaukee Film Festival is showing “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” (6:45 p.m., Oriental Theatre), a blockbuster last year in Southeast Asia that inspired a viral trend of filmgoers sharing videos of themselves reduced to a blubbering mess. Originally, I was not going to lead with that fact; this is a good movie, and I feared that emphasizing its verklempt audiences would falsely suggest an unbearably maudlin experience. But then I thought, hang on—this is actually remarkable, that a small, unfussy family drama could achieve the same “event” status as, say, the Minecraft movie.
Shortly after a ritual visit to an ancestor’s gravesite on Tomb-Sweeping Day, a Thai-Chinese family learns that Grandma Menju, who lives in Bangkok’s Chinatown, has metastatic cancer and only one year to live. Since his career as a video game streamer has stalled, the college dropout M. volunteers to care for Menju. Like others in his family, though, M. is mostly interested in setting the stage to become the chosen heir to her estate. That premise, reinforced by the dippy Americanized title, might signal pitiless hijinks about opportunism and old age, but first-time director Pat Boonnitipat has instead crafted a tender, sprawling look at intergenerational wealth, family bonds and a young man who finally finds his way after choosing to devote himself to a dying person. By the time the movie returns to the cemetery, it has earned its original title, “Lahn Mah,” or “Grandma’s Grandchild.”
The first Thai film to make the Oscar shortlist for Best International Feature Film, “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” will screen again May 6 (1:30 p.m., Oriental Theatre) and May 8 (6 p.m., Oriental Theatre).
The Milwaukee Film Festival started April 24 and runs through May 8. The following are suggestions for each remaining day of the festival.
Friday, May 2
My lifelong obsession with baseball can be traced back to my grandfathers, one of whom was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds before World War II disrupted his dreams. The other treated me to many Brewers games at County Stadium and, crucially, introduced me to baseball cards. Grandpas Jim and Clarence will be with me, at least in spirit, during “The Diamond King” (6:45 p.m., Downer Theatre), a nonfiction celebration of Dick Perez, the official artist for the Baseball Hall of Fame who also painted the Donruss Diamond King cards during the heyday of collecting.
Saturday, May 3
It was my father who taught me to love the Beatles, and perhaps I can’t be objective about a new documentary about John Lennon staring at the TV square. But “One to One: John & Yoko” (6 p.m., Oriental Theatre), which I had the good fortune to see in IMAX last month, strikes me as a major work. Arranged as a rapid-fire collage of early 1970s headlines and pop entertainment—catnip for Boomers and Gen X alike—the sophisticated movie connects Lennon and Yoko Ono’s time in Greenwich Village to the larger cultural moment. What emerges is a portrait of a revered artist adrift; post-Beatles, Lennon possesses musical genius, embraces outsider art, develops protest politics and safeguards his moral compass, but nevertheless seems hazy about how to use it all for the most good. Everything snaps into focus with the 1972 One to One benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, the copious footage of which gives the movie its purifying backbeat.
Sunday, May 4
It might not match Beatlemania, but there will likely be raucous fan energy at “The Milwaukee Youth Show” (10:30 a.m., Oriental Theatre), which bundles short films made by area students. Among them is “Office Cats,” a clever piece of animation from West Bend East High School junior Cole Bruce.
More cat-and-fly than cat-and-mouse, “Office Cats” adapts a comic about a feline working late into the night. Bruce says his style, which features thick, shaky lines, was influenced by the Powerpuff Girls and classic cartoons by Hanna-Barbera and United Productions of America (better known as UPA). He was surprised when the festival reached out to ask if he had a new movie.
“I didn’t know people kept following what I was doing,” said Bruce, who participated in Milwaukee Film’s Take 1 teen filmmaking laboratory in 2024. “So it was really a boost of confidence.”
Bruce started the project in November and completed it two days before MFF’s Jan. 31 submission deadline. He’s thrilled to be included in a program with 10 other shorts made by talented youth.
“It’s going to be crazy,” he said. “One guy is an award-winning festival guy. And there’s another film called ‘I AM’ that I’ve seen before, and I don’t know how he made it, but it’s a beautiful film.”
Monday, May 5
Versatile Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (“Cure,” “Tokyo Sonata”) moves into thriller territory for “Cloud” (6:30 p.m., Downer Theatre), which follows an internet reseller whose remorseless practices prompt many grudges. Kurosawa typically ratchets up tension through a deliberate, controlled style, and “Cloud” looks to be particularly menacing.
Tuesday, May 6
For anyone in Southeast Wisconsin, hearing “the Dells” instantly conjures water slides, boat tours, sandstone and overpriced trinkets on the downtown Strip. For documentarian Nellie Kluz, though, “The Dells” (3 p.m., Downer Theatre) is about the pool of international students with summer work visas who help Wisconsin Dells, the self-appointed “Waterpark Capital of the World,” stay afloat. To her credit, Kluz studiously ducks the hype of the tourist city, seeing instead the sterile weirdness behind the billboards and saying more about American capitalism than paradise lagoons.
Wednesday, May 7
Perhaps the greatest virtue of “Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse” (noon, Downer Theatre) is the way it draws the underground cartoonist out from under the long shadow of “Maus,” his most famous book. One wishes, however, that this otherwise very good nonfiction profile would mirror a little more of its subject’s willful provocations, especially now that his anti-fascism stances have gained new currency.
Thursday, May 8
If the closing-night selection, a romantic comedy called “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life” (7:30 p.m., Oriental Theatre), sounds too cutesy for the times, alternative programming can be found in “Shorts: Stranger Than Fiction” (7 p.m., Oriental Theatre). One ticket gives you five brief documentaries, four of which have won awards at other festivals.
The full lineup plus ticket and venue information are online at mkefilm.org/mff.